like a flood

59:19 like a flood. When the Enemy cannot succeed in his purposes by deception, he occasionally resorts to overt persecution of God’s people, seeking to “swallow them up” like a flood (compare Psalm 124:2-4). But then “the LORD…on our side” will put him to flight (the Hebrew word translated “lift up a standard” is translated “put…to flight” in Deuteronomy 32:30).